Is it really getting on for 40 years since NASA’s space station Skylab plummeted into the ocean, scattering its pieces over Esperance and towards the Central Desert to the sound of sonic booms?

Many of us are old enough to remember that fateful day in July, 1979. For those who aren’t, parts of Skylab are still on display at the Esperance Museum. But what we didn’t know about was the wider conspiracy taking place.

Why had the KGB been filming Skylab from one of its own space stations? Who was really on board, and what were they up to? And where do Aboriginal cosmology and the cult 70s TV show Monkey come into it?

Enter WA-born actor and playwright Melodie Reynolds-Diarra, who addresses such wild speculation in her riotous new sci-fi play, Skylab, a co-production between Black Swan State Theatre Company and Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company.

“It’s loosely based on the idea of waking up consciousness and manifesting our reality through our thoughts,” says the Wongutha and Nadju woman, whose TV acting credits include Broken Shore and Redfern Now.

“You throw in a space station, an Aboriginal family on an isolated farm out of Esperance and a bit of Monkey Magic and see what happens from there. I used real events and made up stuff as I went along. I’m not one for letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn.”

Reynolds-Diarra started at a serious place — the grieving process and thriving in the face of adversity.

It was never her intention to write a comedy. You could say a funny thing happened on the way to the theatre.

“People ask me if I deliberately set out to write a comedy,” she says. “I didn’t. I simply wrote about my family. And sometimes it happened to be funny. Monkey, which we used to watch, influenced me quite a bit. The slapstick, the banter. The magic, the monsters and demons. And having non-Anglo characters telling their stories on the screen. All of that really grabbed me.”

Camera IconThe cast of Skylab during rehearsals at the State Theatre Centre.Picture: Iain Gillespie

She says she’s got the right director for Skylab in her old friend, Yirra Yaakin’s artistic director Kyle J. Morrison. “I grew up with Kyle and I feel like we’re on the same wavelength,” she says. “I really trust him.”

For his part, Morrison says Skylab is a truly unique tale. “Melodie’s really been able to take a significant historical event and map a conversation about dreaming and consciousness in and around that,” he says.

He agrees that, in terms of both the script and his direction, there are a number of influences. “We have Monkey and The Goodies, Dr Who ... lots of TV shows you can steal a little bit of nuance or comic timing from. It’s quite a mixed bag of styles and storytelling and historical context and Dreaming and alternate history.”

Along with adult actors such as Gary Cooper, Alan Little, Rayma McGrath Morrison and Laila Rind, there are a number of child actors aged eight to 13: Eva Barlett, Liani Dalgetty, Donnathia Gentle, Juliette Laylan and Benjamin and Jacob Narkle.

People ask me if I deliberately set out to write a comedy — I didn’t- Melodie Reynolds-Diarra

“Watching these little young stars coming through, everyone’s hearts are just going to flutter,” Reynolds-Diarra says. “I did warn the actors about being upstaged by them. Because they’re just so adorable.”

Morrison reckons she’s probably right. “Also, in one sense, the adult actors can recognise these characters, even as crazy and zany as they are. Whereas the kids playing characters from the 70s — they’re completely different creatures. You talk to them about phone boxes, for example, and they have no idea what you’re on about.”

Skylab may be an ambitious play but Reynolds-Diarra isn’t trying to change the world.

“Though I’d love that,” she laughs.

Skylab runs until September 2 at the State Theatre Centre. Book at ptt.wa.gov.au